Are Transfers Balancing Out the Florida Gators Recruiting Struggles?
Florida Gators fans needed some good news after a long month of January, in which three assistant coaches moved on from the program in some capacity and over a dozen players entered either the NFL Draft or the transfer portal.
That good news came on Sunday night, when LSU tight end Arik Gilbert announced that he would transfer to UF.
Gilbert is the second mega addition to Florida's offense via the portal in recent months, following running back Demarkcus Bowman's transfer at the beginning of the 2020 season. Both were considered consensus five-star prospects coming out of high school and rank in the top 400 prospects of all time, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.
Both Gilbert and Bowman could, and perhaps should be expected to, take on big roles in Florida's offense rather immediately. In fact, it's fair to consider each player a starting-caliber contributor given their potential. Gilbert was able to haul in 35 passes over eight games as a true freshman with the Tigers, for one.
Which, is great. Florida lost star tight end Kyle Pitts to the draft and Gilbert is as good as a replacement as UF could have possibly found. The Gators' rushing attack, albeit talented, has been subpar for two years now, and Bowman could provide a serious spark in that department.
However, such additions tend to make one forget why UF has had to utilize the transfer portal so frequently in recent years, since its inception quite frankly. As the Gators have struggled to recruit top talent from the high school level consistently, they've been left to fill holes via the portal, sort of like NFL free agency.
Although Florida's tight end depth proved solid during the 2020 season, it was exposed during the Cotton Bowl after Pitts had opted out of the game. Kemore Gamble and Keon Zipperer combined for four drops, leaving onlookers skeptical of their outlook as Pitts' starting replacement and justifying Gilbert's acquisition.
Another two recent additions, defensive linemen Antonio Shelton and DaQuan Newkirk, speak to that fault specifically. Both transferred to Florida shortly after the 2020 season concluded, a year in which Florida's lack of defensive line depth was routinely exposed.
Bowman made his way to UF a year after Lorenzo Lingard transferred to Florida from Miami. Both are intriguing talents, but their additions overshadow the fact that UF has not gotten pen-to-paper with a high school running back in two consecutive recruiting classes.
The BUCK rush end position is currently held down by Georgia transfer Brenton Cox Jr., who is an exciting but developing pass rusher. Before him: Louisville transfer Jonathan Greenard, who starred in Florida's disruptive 2019 defense en route to a third-round NFL Draft selection by the Houston Texans.
Trevon Grimes and Van Jefferson were both highly productive receivers for Florida over the past three years - Jefferson was drafted in the second round last year, and Grimes will be selected this year. However, both transferred to Florida from different universities after head coach Dan Mullen's arrival.
As a whole, Florida has landed 15 players from the transfer portal under Mullen. Four of the ten to transfer before the 2020 season started in their first game in a Gators uniform and filled a need immediately. Realistically, four transfers in the class of 2021 - Gilbert, Bowman, Shelton, and kicker Jace Christmann - could do the same next season.
College football is changing, and the transfer portal has emerged as a mode of roster reconstruction. Mullen has taken advantage of it and found great success, but it puts a cover over an issue that the team could be ill-affected by in the long-term.
How long can the Gators afford to patch up roster holes via the transfer portal before there are simply too many holes to patch up? And if recruits that are brought in aren't progressing at a quick enough rate, thus obligating Florida to pursue veteran talent, what does that say about UF's ability to develop its own prospects across the board?
Florida's lack of stellar recruiting under Mullen has been a hot topic for a while, but he manages to silence doubters by acquiring talented players and filling needs in the portal. So far, the strategy has worked in Florida's favor as numerous transfers have been productive in orange and blue.
However, Mullen is now entering year four of his tenure as UF's head coach, fresh off of a disappointing end to a promising season with a three-game losing streak and seemingly always outsiders for College Football Playoff contention. It's fair to wonder if the strategy is paying off over putting a bigger emphasis on landing high school recruits and developing their skill-sets from scratch.
